Friday, September 19, 2008

ARTICLE #64) Missing teen’s mom stopped at border: Still hopes to continue search


Saturday, June 2, 2007
Missing teen’s mom stopped at border: Still hopes to continue search
The Kamloops Daily News by Robert Koopmans

The Kamloops mother of a teen who vanished in Las Vegas 14 months ago says she won’t let U.S. authorities keep her from the work of finding her daughter.

Glendene Grant said she was not allowed to enter the U.S. this week as she tried to board a plane for Las Vegas. Grant was bound for the Nevada city to meet with investigators and others there about the disappearance of her daughter Jessie Foster.

While she has been allowed into the U.S. many times before, this time around border guards pulled her aside and told her to turn around.

Grant said she has a criminal conviction for possession of a small amount of marijuana from 21 years ago, and wonders if that was the reason she was denied entry.

The border authorities told her she would remain flagged ad further attempts to cross into the U.S. would also be refused.

What upset her the most, however, was the reaction of the woman in charge, who coldly told her it was probably her daughter’s fault if she had run into trouble in Las Vegas.

“She said to me, “Did your daughter choose to go to Las Vegas? Well, she made the choice then, didn’t she?” Grant said.

Upset, Grant said she asked to speak to the woman’s boss, a request that prompted the woman to call security and have Grant escorted out.

Grant said she is hopeful a resolution can be reached and means for her to cross the border identified. An RCMP officer in Vancouver listened to her story, and promised to get to the bottom of why she was denied entry this time when she hasn’t been denied in the past.

Until then, she will continue to contact investigators by e-mail and phone, and work from a distance to keep her daughter’s face fresh in the minds of a city that sees many people go missing every year.

“Right now, my job is finding Jessie,” she said.

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